Attorney General Hardy Myers this week announced the conviction of Don Andrew Nguyen, a former Portland area convenience store retailer, for violations of the state’s tobacco tax laws. Don Nguyen, the former owner and operator of Junior’s II Grocery, plead guilty last week to four separate felony counts of unlawful distribution of tobacco products in Marion County Circuit Court.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by officials from the Tobacco Compliance Task Force, which includes the Oregon State Police, Oregon Department of Justice, and the Oregon Department of Revenue. Investigators confirmed that, for several years, Nguyen illegally purchased untaxed tobacco products from multiple sources including a New Jersey tobacco distributor. Nguyen then sold the tobacco without reporting and paying the tax owed to the Oregon Department of Revenue in violation of state law.

Nguyen was ordered to pay a compensatory fine in excess $186,000 to the Oregon Department of Revenue, and was ordered to perform 320 hours of community service and serve three years of supervised probation.